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Heat: Chapters 1–14

A young baseball player tries to hide his complicated family situation in order to make it to the Little League World Series.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–14, Chapters 15–28
25 words 1065 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. expanse
    a wide and open space or area, as of land, sea, or sky
    Ramon’s plan was simple: He would cut across Ruppert Place and run down the hill to Macombs Dam Park, across the basketball courts there, then across the green expanse of outfield that the two ballfields shared there.
  2. prominent
    conspicuous in position or importance
    Papi had grown up in a time when a star Cuban baseball player, which Michael knew Papi sure had been as a young man, could never think about escaping to America, the way others would later, the most prominent lately being the Yankee pitcher Ricardo Gonzalez.
  3. flourish
    a showy gesture
    He poured more Aunt Jemima syrup on his stack with a flourish, finishing as though dotting an i.
  4. reluctantly
    with a certain degree of unwillingness
    He reluctantly went over to the screen behind home plate where they’d all stacked their bats.
  5. lob
    propel in a high arc
    But this wasn’t official pitching now, not against Manny and Kel and Anthony. This was just pure fun, from his first pitch, which he lobbed up there to Kel.
  6. agile
    moving quickly and lightly
    Manny was agile for someone with a body shaped like a fire hydrant.
  7. strait
    a narrow channel joining two larger bodies of water
    The stories in the paper reminded everybody that El Grande, who had struggled in April, had not lost a game since his family had finally made it out of Cuba a month before, made it across the waters of the Florida Straits the way Papi and Carlos and Michael had two years before.
  8. ricochet
    spring back; spring away from an impact
    The blond-haired kid didn’t like looking foolish, and even tried to convince the home plate ump that the dribbler he’d hit back to Michael had ricocheted off his foot first.
  9. veer
    turn sharply; change direction abruptly
    At that point Michael got into line with the rest of the Clippers, shaking hands with the Westchester players, all except Justin, who somehow managed to veer off and head back to his bench just before he got next to Michael, staring hard at him from a distance, still acting more ticked off at Michael than he was at the umpire who’d just clipped him for a game.
  10. rite
    an established ceremony prescribed by a religion
    Father Montoya came and gave him the last rites.
  11. compassion
    a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering
    “It’s not your fastball I’m going to remember someday,” Manny said. “It’s your compassion.”
  12. casual
    not showing effort or strain
    When it got to her, she reached up, casual, like a big-league outfielder making a routine out, and caught the ball in her glove, one he hadn’t even noticed she had on.
  13. coherent
    capable of thinking in a clear and consistent manner
    “Okay,” Manny said, “but let me do the talking.”
    Michael said, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
    “It means that you do not possess the ability to talk to girls in any sort of coherent manner.”
  14. ignorance
    the lack of knowledge or education
    “The tools of ignorance,” Anthony said, then put his hand up, as if inviting high fives from the group.
  15. dignify
    give status or attention to, often undeservedly
    “I’m not even dignifying your ignorance with a comment,” Manny said. “You’re a tool of ignorance.”
  16. paella
    saffron-flavored dish of rice with shellfish and chicken
    “You should see the two of them eat my paella,” she said.
  17. setback
    an unfortunate happening that thwarts or hinders
    If Mr. Lima called again, or stopped by, Carlos would say they were going to wait a few more days for their father, and if he wasn’t back by next week, then they’d just have to come down to the borough president’s office without him. For now their story was that their uncle had suffered a setback.
  18. inevitable
    an unavoidable event
    Manny said they were just putting off the inevitable, that they should do it now and get it over with.
  19. telepathy
    extrasensory communication from one mind to another
    It was as if she had been waiting patiently for him to look over at her. As if she knew he would. As if they really did have some kind of mental telepathy going.
  20. authenticity
    undisputed credibility
    Mr. Gibbs said that as far as he knew, nobody had ever questioned the authenticity of one of those baptism certificates until now.
  21. bottom line
    the crucial or decisive point
    “Gibbs said the bottom line was they had to take it to the District 22 board of directors,” Mr. M said.
  22. sanctuary
    a shelter from danger or hardship
    Now that pitcher’s mound was his sanctuary. He threw easily at first, making sure to warm up the way he always did. Honoring his instrument, as Papi had always instructed him.
  23. dinky
    small and insignificant
    He went four innings and Kel, with all his slow stuff, this little dinky pitch he had that always seemed to find the outside corner, pitched the last two.
  24. controversy
    a dispute where there is strong disagreement
    “Understand, we told the coaches who made the complaint that we’re comfortable with what we already have. But they’ve called the folks at the District Office. And the District Office says that because you’re such a great pitcher, and because your team has such a great chance to make it to the World Series, they don’t want there to be any controversy, the way there was a few years ago.”
  25. humongous
    very large
    Then he got out of the bus, ran up the front steps, took the stairs up to the apartment, unlocked the door, made himself a humongous chocolate milk shake, remembered with a slap to his forehead that the Yankees were on Channel 9 tonight.
Created on Sun Jun 06 20:32:49 EDT 2021 (updated Thu Jun 10 12:34:23 EDT 2021)

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